Stretch removable adhesive articles provide temporary bonding solutions in a wide variety of commercial and industrial applications. These adhesive articles can be easily removed from a bonded substrate by stretching the article lengthwise in a direction substantially parallel to the plane of the substrate. Because the adhesion substantially degrades as the adhesive is elongated, the stretching action enables the adhesive to be conveniently detached without damaging the underlying substrate. These articles are commonly used to bond two different substrates to each other, thus allowing two adhesively bonded materials to be separated from each other without damage to either substrate.
Commercial stretch removable adhesive articles include COMMAND brand adhesive tapes sold by 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn. and POWER-STRIPS brand self-adhesive tapes sold by Beiersdorf AG, Hamburg, Germany. These products can be optionally provided with long discrete strips of a pressure sensitive adhesive with a pull tab at one end to facilitate stretching of the strips during removal. Optionally, the adhesive areas can be protected using a release liner prior to use. In some cases, it is advantageous for the adhesive to undergo inelastic deformation as it stretches to avoid sudden recoil, or “snap,” when the adhesive fully detaches. An ancillary benefit of inelastic deformation during stretching is that such products do not return to their original shape, thereby indicating if the product has been previously used or tampered with.
Adhesive tapes and films that are stretch removable can be especially useful in bonding to soft and/or delicate surfaces. For example, such articles have been used for temporary attachment of paper articles, such as for holding posters, signs, or other large format graphics, or even bonding to skin in medical tape, wound or surgical dressing, athletic tape, surgical drape, and medical device applications. Finally, these articles can also be used to facilitate attachment of other articles to clothing, as commonly used in adult incontinence pads or feminine hygiene products such as absorbent sanitary napkins, which are adhered to undergarments. These types of applications pose unique challenges not only because of the flexibility of the substrate but also the need to reconcile the demand for high levels of adhesion with the need to avoid inadvertent damage to the substrate during removal.